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Under the plan to cut the highest property taxes in the nation, lawmakers are considering:
• a 20-percent credit for households earning less than $50,000 per year;
• a 15-percent credit for households earning from that figure to perhaps $150,000 per year;
• a 10-percent credit for remaining households earning up to $300,000 per year.
Tax Cut Plans Range From 10 To 20 Percent For NJ Homeowners
The sweeping property tax breaks that lawmakers vowed to bring to New Jersey homeowners would offer more relief to those with lower incomes, according to a plan discussed Monday by the state senate president.
Senate President Richard J. Codey said households that earn less than $50,000 per year would get a 20 percent credit against their property taxes. Most others would get credits ranging from 10 to 15 percent, he said, and stressed that details of the entire plan have yet to be finalized. The proposals require approval by the Legislature, which is controlled by Democrats.
Codey said that, under the plan to cut the highest property taxes in the nation, lawmakers are considering:
• a 20 percent credit for households earning less than $50,000 per year;
• a 15-percent credit for households earning from that figure to perhaps $150,000 per year;
• a 10-percent credit for remaining households earning up to $300,000 per year.
Codey stressed the final plan hasn’t been decided and said a 20-percent credit could still go to people earning more than $50,000 per year.
“We’re rounding third base and going toward home plate in terms of working out the final details,” he said.
Codey and Assembly Speaker Joseph Roberts Jr. announced on Nov. 9 plans to give a 20-percent average property tax credit to most homeowners.
While they then said most relief would go to households earning less money, they didn’t detail how the breaks would be disbursed.
Codey said the possible scenario would bring an average 20-percent cut for most New Jerseyans, and said a full 20-percent credit would be geared toward households earning less than $50,000, because they carry the biggest burdens.
“They see 20 to 25 percent of their income go to property taxes,” said Codey, D-Essex.
The average New Jerseyan pays $6,000 per year in property taxes, twice the national average.
The credits would replace the property tax rebate checks sent by the state to homeowners, though the checks may remain for senior citizens.
Households that earn more than $200,000 per year aren’t eligible for rebate checks, but Codey said the cap will almost definitely be raised to $300,000 per year for the direct credits.
Roberts and Codey met with Gov. Jon S. Corzine on Monday to discuss their plan.
“The goal is to make sure that the property tax relief plan is as fair as can be and helps those who need it the most,” said Roberts, D-Camden.
Roberts has also noted that 95 percent of New Jersey households make less than $300,000 per year.
Minority Republicans countered that they want all homeowners to get a 20-percent property tax credit.
“This thing has to be across the board to everyone,” said Assemblyman Joseph Malone, R-Burlington.
Malone, the top Republican on the Assembly Budget Committee, said property taxes should also be frozen statewide for three years to ensure homeowners see their 20-percent cut sustained. He did not have specifics on how to accomplish that goal, and Codey questioned a plan that lacked details.
“I guess I have to wait for snow in July,” he said.
Meanwhile, on Monday, a special committee that worked on ideas to lower property taxes through government consolidation officially endorsed 18 recommendations released last week.
The panel’s co-chairmen, Sen. Bob Smith and Assemblyman John Wisniewski, both D-Middlesex, said the committee will work to draft legislation and hold hearings on the bills before they go to the Legislature for final votes.
Smith highlighted the plan to create a permanent special commission that would annually recommend which municipalities should be merged. He also touted as key a plan to create powerful county school superintendents appointed by the governor and with authority over local school spending.
He also said a rural county should be the first to try a proposal that would allow one county to voluntarily form a countywide school district so the state can track whether it would help save money without hurting education.
Republicans said the ideas didn’t go far enough to force consolidation.
“Too many of the recommendations will nibble at the edges,” said Sen. Joseph Kyrillos, R-Monmouth, sponsor of the municipal merger commission plan.
Copyright © 2006 Straus Newspapers. All Rights Reserved.
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